Saturday, October 25, 2014

Leadership Positions Announced

The positions are posted. Congratulations to the new leaders which start after the February break, when we start the new music and drumline/colorguard auditions.

We will be posting the Drum Major results the afternoon of October 30th, after the drum major auditions are completed.

As I have stated, we use the following criteria for achieving leadership positions in the marching band.
1. Earning enough points to be placed in the final top 20 on the Marching Band Points Tally
2. Performing on your instrument or flag with advanced proficiency

We are starting the points from today to tally into next year's point totals.  There will be a column after the February break that will include all of the points accumulated from today through the Yamaha Cup.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Leadership Positions for 2015

Mr. Coffey and myself are currently working on the new Marching Band leadership positions for 2015. Only those in the top 20 at the end of the season are guaranteed some leadership position. This is the top 20 positions at the end. If you are 23 and there are 3 seniors in the top 20, then you are still not in the top 20 positions so please do not expect an automatic position. The top 20 positions are exactly that, the top 20. In addition, they can receive ANY of the positions.

In addition, superior musicians can jump right into a position due to their level of musicianship. This has always been the case.

Factors that will affect the position you receive are, if you have ever bothered one of the top officers or staff for a point bump, have ever grubbed, or have ever campaigned for points, expect to receive one of the lower level positions. I have made it very clear that the points are just to give rewards and incentives and not to get positions just to line your high school resume. We are looking for the great people who do it for the program and as altruists. 

In the years we have been doing this I have found that just about all of the people who grub for points, ask for points, or complain to officers on a regular basis do nothing after they achieve a position.  For this reason, those non altruist types will NOT receive one of the top positions. 

Acts of compassion and helping band members, and the obviously opposite acts of deflating people's morale with bad behavior choices are also in the mix.

Last year I posted the positions the week prior to MetLife Championships and may do that once again this year.  All of the new positions will start in the Spring, in February, when we start rehearsing.  I like to do it early so to minimize the stress when tests and other issues are impacting all of our lives in the Spring.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.